Brother Sir Robert S. Lorimer
© Rosslyn Templars
The Plaque reads:
To the Glory of God
and in Memory of
Sir ROBERT STODART LORIMER
aRCHITECT CREATOR FO
THE THISTLE CHAPEL THE NATIONAL
WAR MEMORIAL AS OF MANY NOTABLE
BUILDINGS IN THIS AN OTHER LANDS
BORN 4th NOV. 1864 DIED 13th SEPTEMBER 1929.
ERECTED BY HIS BROTHER ARCHITECTS CRAFTSMEN AND FRIENDS
Lorimer was born in Edinburgh, the son of a law professor, Lorimer was educated at Edinburgh University. The move of his family to Kellie Castle in Fife, which his father restored, laid the foundations of his future career. hi 1885 he was apprenticed to Sir Robert Rowand Anderson and four years later he went to London to complete his education under G. F. Bodley and James MacLaren. Lorimer returned to Edinburgh to set up practice in 1893 and one of his first commissions was the restoration of Earlshall in Fife (1895). Following his teacher Anderson, he developed an interest in Scottish Vernacular architecture. As a member of the Arts and Crafts Movement, he was also influenced by R. N. Shaw and eventually became the leading exponent of the Scottish Vernacular Revival. Most of his work was domestic and included much restoration and alteration work (Dunrobin Castle, 1914-19; Leslie House, 1906-7; Balmanno Castle. 1916-21). He also altered and remodelled a number of small suburban villas m Edinburgh (St Leonards and Westerlea, Murrayfield, 1912 and 1913). Other restoration schemes included national monuments such as Paisley Abbey (1923-8) and Dunblane Cathedral (1912-14). Knighted in 1911, he was given prestigious public commissions such as the Chapel of the Knights of the Thistle in St Giles' Cathedral (1909) and, above all, the Scottish National War Memorial Chapel in Edinburgh Castle (1924). Lorimer's son, Hew, was the sculptor responsible, among other things, for the statue of Our Lady of the Isles at Rueval on South Uist (1957).
Brother Lorimer was made a Freemason in The Lodge of Holyrood House (St. Luke), No.44 in 1916. Although he became a Freemason at the age of 52 it is thought that much of his work was influenced by Masonic principals and practice. Whether this was because of his acquaintance with Freemasons is not known but this aspect of his life surely merits further investigation.